1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a mobile hunting vessel designed to allow a hunter to move the vessel to a designated hunting area and partially submerge the vessel to reduce the visibility of the vessel and hunter to flying game. When hunting activities are concluded, the hunter can refloat the vessel and return to the dock.
2. Description of Related Art
Hunting blinds are commonly used to conceal the presence of hunters from flying game, which are known to have exceptionally keen eyesight. If the flying game detects the presence of any predator, it will often “flare” or veer away from a particular area. For this reason, hunters have devised ways of masking their presence using camouflage, natural vegetation, and stealth.
Concealment of the hunter is especially important when hunting waterfowl, which are naturally attracted to water. Although waterfowl can be hunted in flooded woodland areas, they are commonly hunted over open bodies of water or marshland, thus creating the need for aquatic means of transportation. In the past, hunters have used boats, skiffs, pirogues, or waders to access “pit blinds,” which are essentially metal, fiberglass, or wooden “pill boxes” partially submerged beneath the surface of a marsh and covered with native vegetation, so as to blend into the relatively flat and featureless terrain. As game birds come within shooting distance of the blind, the hunters emerge from within by throwing back the native cover to fire upon their prey. Any game birds that fall more than a few feet from a partially submerged blind must be retrieved by boat, by wading into the water, or by a dog.
In addition to the technical problems faced by hunters in pit blinds, hunters often desire to hunt game birds from different locations, which gives rise to the need for additional blinds, and in some cases, additional means of transportation to and from the blind. Furthermore, seasoned game birds often become conditioned to avoid a particular area after being repeatedly fired upon from the same location, thus making it advantageous for hunters to change locations between hunts.
As can be appreciated from the foregoing discussion, the use of traditional hunting blinds involves a lot of equipment, preparation time, and forethought. What is needed is a mobile hunting blind that satisfies the need to conceal the hunter, but at the same time eliminates the need for a separate access vehicle. Specifically, what is needed is a vessel that allows the hunter to drive to a desired location, partially submerge the vessel to reduce visibility to flying birds, and hunt from within the vessel similar to the manner in which one would hunt from a traditional pit blind.
Known prior art consists of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,503,358; 4,048,939; 4,615,289; 5,060,591; 5,215,025; 6,209,595; and 6,209,470. U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,289 to Bloxham discloses a floating dry dock, which may be submerged by flooding floatation chambers and then refloated by blowing water out of the chambers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,025 to Talmor discloses a boat with an interior ballast chambers along the length of the boat. The chambers can be flooded to give the boat additional stability when needed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,358 to Moesly discloses a longitudinal ballast tank beneath the keel of a boat. Water is transferred between two compartments during acceleration to maintain maximum stability and efficiency from rest to a planing position.
The remaining patents pertain principally to other boat configurations with ballast chambers used to enhance stability. However, none of the above patents utilize submersion or ballast chamber technology in connection with a hunting blind.